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Custom Answering Menu to Forward When not Home

Started by amrutsevak, October 18, 2011, 07:10:18 PM

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amrutsevak

I don't know if this seems possible but it seems you can record your own message so it seems possible.

So, is there a way, if I'm not home, then the Auto Attendant can give the caller 3 choice like dial "1001" to call "X's cell phone", dial "1002" to reach Y's cell phone", dial "1003 to reach Z's cell phone"? Of course, I would have to record these messages somehow.

And have the AA dial the cell phone of who they're trying to reach automatically?

I saw in the administration guide which says how you can record your own prompts, but doesn't mention how you can get the prompts to do the actually forwarding.

Any help appreciated.

QBZappy

amrutsevak,

Hi,

Virtual extension calling via the OBi is now possible since v 1.3. I think they forgot to mention that, or it didn't occur to them.

OBihai marketing department may want to add a new feature to their OBi marketing literature. As of firmware v 1.3 IVR prompts are now recordable. When you call into the OBi and the CID is in the COT you will be presented with 3 options.
1- Continue this call
2- Make a new call
3- Callback number

By setting up your own voice prompts you are free to record anything you like. Callers may not even need to know about options 1 and 3, if you don't mention it in the IVR. They may be used as secret options for yourself or the select few you would like to share with. Virtual extension calling can be accomplished by combining option 2 of the AA with the speed dial numbers. Speed dial numbers can be routed by prefixing it with (**1, **2, or **8 if you have an OBi110) + tel number. You are limited to extensions beginning with "2". All extensions must be dialed in this format for it to work.:
2+speed dial number+#
(Note # must be entered last, this behavior differs from dialing speed dial number directly from the phone. From the phone there is no need to end with # for the speed dial number to work.)

Examples:
1) If you use an incoming call strategy were COT calls are offered an IVR and asks the user to dial an extension they may enter any one of the following 99 extension numbers 21# ... 299#

2) In a business setting it may be desirable to allow all calls into your AA. When you record your prompt you may offer 21# as Sales, 22# Accounting, etc...

I've tested it, and it works. OBi is becoming more like a mini PBX.



Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

amrutsevak

Hi, QBZappy.

Thanks for your reply. It's great to know OBi has this capability. I read your post but unfortunately, it doesn't explain how to do it step-by-step, so I'm at a loss. I got a custom greeting recorded but I don't know how to use it. Moreover, I don't know how to enable custom greeting for some callers but not all.

Again, the admin guide really doesn't show step-by-step either.

It's a great device but very hard to program for the lay person.

QBZappy

#3
Quote
Q. How to record user prompts on your OBi device?
A.
-   There are 10 slots for User Recordable Prompts
-   The maximum length for each user prompt is 60s
-   Total space available for all user prompts is 122s
-   User Prompts are referenced in AA Prompts configuration with the notations %USER1%, %USER2%, ... %USER10%
-   Prompts are recorded via PHONE Port IVR main menu 0 (that is, dial * * * 0), and enter option 1001#
       for %USER1% prompt, 1002# for %USER2% prompt, and so on, up to 1010#.
o   When you are prompted to enter "value" when recording prompt, press any digit 0-9 to start recording. When you're done, press #
o   Tips: Leave at least 1s of space at the end before hitting # to avoid the ending being truncated.
o   Afterwards, you can review your recording, and save it permanently if you are satisfied with it. Otherwise you can record again
o   After you have saved a recorded prompt, you can proceed to record a different one. When you hang up, the OBi device will reboot automatically so that the new prompts can take effect
-   Each user prompt has two status parameters shown at the top under the Auto Attendant page:
o   Description – A short text description of what to the prompt contains; limited to 80 characters. User can edit the description on the device web page. The description is stored as part of the prompt data and can be backed up and restored along with the prompt data. After you have recorded one more new prompts, you should go to this page to modify the descriptions and save them with the new prompts
o   Length – The duration of the prompt in milliseconds
o   The page also shows (at the bottom of the section) how much total space has been used and total available space remaining

-------

Q. How to use the recorded prompts for AA1?
A.
-   AA1 has the following programmable prompt parameters with default factory provided contents:
o   Welcome – Default = "Welcome to OBi Attendant"
o   MenuTitle –  Default = "Main Menu"
o   Menu – Default = "Press 1 to continue this call, Press 2 to make a new call, Press 3 to enter a callback number", repeated 3 times
o   EnterNumber – Default = "Enter number followed by # key"
o   EnterPin – Default = "Enter PIN"
o   InvalidPin – Default = "Invalid PIN"
o   PleaseWait – Default = "Please wait while your call is being connected"
o   Bye – Default = "Thank you for choosing OBiHAI. Goodbye"

-   The default contents are played if the prompt parameter is blank
-   To play your own recorded prompts, you enter one or more user prompts (separated by comma), such as: %USER1%, %USER2%. OBi will play the user prompts one by one in the order the user prompts are listed in the parameter
-   Each user prompt in the list takes an optional "r=[start][-end]" parameter to specify the range of the recorded prompt to play; unit is in milliseconds. For example:
o   %USER3%;r=1000      (starts playing at the 1000 ms mark to the end)
o   %USER5%;r=-2500      (starts from beginning to the 2500 ms mark)
o   %USER6%;r=1300-3720   (starts from the  1300 ms mark to the 3720 ms mark)
o   %USER5%;r=3200-1200   (does not play anything since end < start)
o   
-   To insert additional silence period while playing the prompts, you can add one more "&pause(<length>)" where length is the duration of the pause in seconds. For example:
o   %USER1%;r=1200,&pause(2),%USER2%,&pause(3)

Don't let the above intimidate you. It is easier than it reads to set up. Use the correct tool to record the IVR in the format they suggest. Somewhere OBihai mentioned that they were going to offer a recording tool. I haven't seen it.

Edit:
The easiest way to make IVR recordings is to use the phone attached to the OBi.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

Stewart

Quote from: QBZappy on October 19, 2011, 11:24:36 AM
Somewhere OBihai mentioned that they were going to offer a recording tool. I haven't seen it.
I wrote a simple perl script to create a prompts file (that can be uploaded to your OBi) from a series of .wav file.  I hope to post it here (as open source freeware), but have asked Obihai whether this is ok, and am awaiting a reply.

QBZappy

Stewart,

Great to see someone else contributing to 3rd party apps development. If you offer it to the community can you post it here, so that it will be easier to find for everyone. :

3rd party apps development for the OBi 110/100
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1648.msg10743#msg10743

Best--
QBZappy
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

amrutsevak

Quote
...
-   The default contents are played if the prompt parameter is blank
-   To play your own recorded prompts, you enter one or more user prompts (separated by comma), such as: %USER1%, %USER2%. OBi will play the user prompts one by one in the order the user prompts are listed in the parameter
...

Don't let the above intimidate you. It is easier than it reads to set up. Use the correct tool to record the IVR in the format they suggest. Somewhere OBihai mentioned that they were going to offer a recording tool. I haven't seen it. You may want to download "Audacity" (Free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

I read that but, as you can read, it doesn't mention anywhere how I go about putting that in the ObiTalk administration page.... like I don't know how to PLUG in the recording .... For example, it says above "To play your own recorded prompts, you enter one or more .... but where??? And how do I get that prompt to do what I want it to do???

QBZappy

Here is a more recent AA prompts step by step, found here:
   
Update for OBi100 & OBi110 (October 6, 2011)
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=9.0

List of the 8 prompts that are replaceable with a user derived recording:
  - Welcome (to OBi Attendant) (optional)
  - Main Menu (optional)
  - Selection Menu – Press 1 to ..., Press 2 to ...
  - Enter PIN (optional if PIN not used)
  - Invalid PIN (optional if PIN not used)
  - Enter Number (followed by the # key)
  - Please Wait (while your call is being connected)
  - Goodbye (optional)
   - Other Post Dialing Announcements, following SIT tone, are not replaceable.
  Prompts can be recorded using the handset attached to the OBi PHONE port.
  Prompts will take effect after a reboot (automatically when hang up).
  The OBi web page has a buttons for the backup and restoration the AA prompts.

1.3 FAQ:
Q. How do I to record user prompts on my OBi device?
A. There are 10 slots for User Recordable Prompts
-   The maximum length for each user prompt is 60s
-   Total space available for all user prompts is 122s
-   User Prompts are referenced in AA Prompts configuration with the notations %USER1%, %USER2%, ... %USER10%
-   Prompts are recorded via PHONE Port IVR main menu 0 (that is, dial * * * 0), and enter option 1001#
        for %USER1% prompt, 1002# for %USER2% prompt, and so on, up to 1010#.


When you are prompted to enter "value" when recording prompt, press any digit 0-9 to start recording. When you're done, press #
o   Tips: Leave at least 1s of space at the end before hitting # to avoid the ending being truncated.
o   Afterwards, you can review your recording, and save it permanently if you are satisfied with it. Otherwise you can record again
o   After you have saved a recorded prompt, you can proceed to record a different one. When you hang up, the OBi device will reboot automatically so that the new prompts can take effect
-   Each user prompt has two status parameters shown at the top under the Auto Attendant page:
o   Description – A short text description of what to the prompt contains; limited to 80 characters. User can edit the description on the device web page. The description is stored as part of the prompt data and can be backed up and restored along with the prompt data. After you have recorded one more new prompts, you should go to this page to modify the descriptions and save them with the new prompts
o   Length – The duration of the prompt in milliseconds
o   The page also shows (at the bottom of the section) how much total space has been used and total available space remaining

-------

Q.  How do I use the recorded prompts for my OBi device's AA1 - Auto Attendant 1?
A.  AA1 has the following programmable prompt parameters with default factory provided contents:
o   Welcome – Default = "Welcome to OBi Attendant"
o   MenuTitle –  Default = "Main Menu"
o   Menu – Default = "Press 1 to continue this call, Press 2 to make a new call, Press 3 to enter a callback number", repeated 3 times
o   EnterNumber – Default = "Enter number followed by # key"
o   EnterPin – Default = "Enter PIN"
o   InvalidPin – Default = "Invalid PIN"
o   PleaseWait – Default = "Please wait while your call is being connected"
o   Bye – Default = "Thank you for choosing OBiHAI. Goodbye"

-   The default contents are played if the prompt parameter is blank
-   To play your own recorded prompts, you enter one or more user prompts (separated by comma), such as: %USER1%, %USER2%. OBi will play the user prompts one by one in the order the user prompts are listed in the parameter
-   Each user prompt in the list takes an optional "r=[start][-end]" parameter to specify the range of the recorded prompt to play; unit is in milliseconds. For example:
o   %USER3%;r=1000      (starts playing at the 1000 ms mark to the end)
o   %USER5%;r=-2500      (starts from beginning to the 2500 ms mark)
o   %USER6%;r=1300-3720   (starts from the  1300 ms mark to the 3720 ms mark)
o   %USER5%;r=3200-1200   (does not play anything since end < start)

-   To insert additional silence period while playing the prompts, you can add one more "&pause(<length>)" where length is the duration of the pause in seconds. For example:
o   %USER1%;r=1200,&pause(2),%USER2%,&pause(3)

-------

Q.  How do I share my AA prompts with others?
A.  You can backup your recorded prompts as a single file and restore it on any other OBi running version 1.3 or later release:
-   To backup the recorded prompts from the device web page:
o   Device Web page – System Management – Device Update - Backup AA User Prompts
o   Click Backup to save to your PC
-   To restore the saved prompt file back to an OBi (v1.3),  do it the same way as if you are upgrading the OBi firmware from the device browser and provide the path to the prompt backup file. The OBi can tell from the file header that you are trying to update the user prompts. WARNING: All the existing user prompts will be overwritten by the restored file, even if it does not include all the prompts. There is no "merge" function at the moment when restoring a prompt file.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

Stewart

Quote from: QBZappy on October 19, 2011, 12:33:01 PM
If you offer it to the community can you post it here, so that it will be easier to find for everyone.
Prompt upload script can be found at http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1648.msg11225#msg11225 .

Ravi

I was happy to see you AA can be customized, but that is not working for me.

I followed as mentioned in the manual and forum.
Dialed ***0
Pressed 1001#
Pressed 1

Pressed 0 (any number b/w 0-9)
"I recorded my message"
Pressed #

Pressed 1 to save.

Obi rebooted, everything went as mentioned. But when I call I still hear old OBI AA  message.
It is not working.

Any suggestion.

RonR

Ravi,

Dial ***0  followed by 1001# to verify that you have recorded a User Prompt in the USER1 slot.

Then enter %USER1% in the Value field of the desired Auto Attendant Prompt (Welcome, InvalidPin, etc.).

Click Submit and Reboot.

Ravi

RonR,
I Dialed ***0  followed by 1001# and verified my own message is stored.

But when I call AA, i still hear Default Obi AA. should I configure somewhere else to use my own message?

I have done this at least 10 times, but no change. I always hear on IVR, but actual AA is not prompting my message.

RonR

Ravi,

Did you enter %USER1% in the Value field of the desired Auto Attendant Prompt (Welcome, InvalidPin, etc.)?

Recording a message (User Prompt #1) does not put that message into use anywhere.  You must then assign that recorded message to a particular Auto Attendant prompt.

Ravi

RonR,
Thanks for that. Now AA is working with my message.

Is it possible to have Custom AA with specific number connected. Example

Option in AA asking to choose number for
Office - 1
Home - 2
Cell - 3

Regards

RonR

You can have up to 10 custom prompts.

You can assign them as desired to the various AA prompts:

Welcome
InvalidPin
EnterPin 
MenuTitle
Menu
PleaseWait
EnterNumber
Bye

You cannot change the basic functioning of the Auto Attendant:

Pressing 1 will ring the PHONE Port.
Pressing 2 will accept a number to dial.
Pressing 3 will accept a callback number.

You could prompt:

Press 21# for Office
Press 22# for Home
Press 23# for Cell

and have Speed dials of:

1 -> Office number
2 -> Home number
3 -> Cell number

Ravi

RonR,
Ok now understand the limitation. Will do what you suggested.

Thanks.

MYOBi

I am also a novice in programming the OBi110. After some trial and errors, I managed to change the IVR prompts. I was not sure where to enter the %USER1% values. I finally figured it out and wanted to share it with others who may be struggling with this.

%USER_% values are entered IN THE WEB INTERFACE after logging into your local Obi Device (In my case, it is from the Internet Explorer address, http://192.168.1.3/. Yours can be found from your router or from dialing * * * 1 from the phone attached to your OBiDevice.
Under the left side menu, VOICE SERVICES, then click on Auto Attendant). Uncheck defaults, then enter  %USER_% values.. Note that, values are not sequential.

Auto Attendant 1 Prompts

Parameter Name            Value           Default   
Welcome                     %USER1%
InvalidPin                    %USER6%
EnterPin                      %USER5%
MenuTitle                    %USER2%
Menu                          %USER3%
PleaseWait                  %USER7%   
EnterNumber                %USER4%   
Bye                            %USER8%

(Note that, these Values cannot be entered remotely from the ObiHAI Internet web interface from your account. It would be nice if the users were given the capability to program the remote devices. <- This is a suggestion to OBiHai Team. ;))

Thanks,

MYOBi

RonR,

You said:

Quote from: RonR on November 08, 2011, 09:15:52 PM
You cannot change the basic functioning of the Auto Attendant:

Pressing 1 will ring the PHONE Port.
Pressing 2 will accept a number to dial.
Pressing 3 will accept a callback number.

You could prompt:

Press 21# for Office
Press 22# for Home
Press 23# for Cell

and have Speed dials of:

1 -> Office number
2 -> Home number
3 -> Cell number



In the above calling scheme, do you assume the OBi device does not have pin number?
Entering 2 is accepted as "Make a new call", and pin number is expected. "Invalid Pin" message plays after entering 2+Speed dial number + #

I cannot make it work this way.

Regards,

RonR

Quote from: MYOBi on November 23, 2011, 04:42:25 PM
In the above calling scheme, do you assume the OBi device does not have pin number?

Correct.  If the Auto Attendant has a PIN enabled, it will have to be entered.

You can change the prompts to say anything you want, but doing so doesn't change the way the Auto Attendant works.